Month: March 2017

as announced on anthrocon.org

As posted by Nicona Shadowwolf

here are several changes coming to registration this year so I am writing this post to let people know what to expect. In this post I will be focusing on the on-site registration and changes coming to the badges.

Last year, as several people are aware, we had issues at on-site registration on Thursday. The printers we use to print out badges had issues and caused several hours of downtime. The problems have made it clear to me that the way we are currently printing badges is not scaling well as we continue to grow. Having all of our on-site check-in stations printing to 2 or 3 printers is just not sufficient any more. And if one printer problem can bring down reg it becomes apparent that changes need to be made.

First off, the badge stock will not be changing. We will still be using the plastic badges like we have been. However, for on-site registrations we will no longer be printing directly on the badge. Instead of using the 2 to3 printers that every check-in station was printing to, each station will now have its own label printer. As a person is checked in, a label will print out right at the station and be affixed to the badge which then can be handed out immediately.

There are a few benefits to do things this way:

1. With the labels printing out right at the stations we will be able to process people through registration faster, which will mean shorter wait times in line.

2. Once you pay/check-in you will not have to wait for your badge to print out and listen for your name to be called. Your badge will be handed to you right then and there. We will no longer have to have people yelling out badge names to find who the badge belongs to,

3. With the old printers, when we had a printer go down it brought all of on-site reg to a halt. With the new printers if a printer goes down we lose one station, not all of on-site reg.

Now to answer a few questions you may have.

What will this look like?

Here is a picture to give you an idea of what the labels will look like. Please note that for this example the label was placed on a room key card and the layout of the label may be different.

Will the label be covering up the artwork on the badge?

No. There is going to be a slight redesign of the badges. The very bottom of the portion of the badges will be set aside as a lighter area where the label can be placed. All of the badge artwork will be above this area. That way the label will cover up very little, if any, of the artwork on the badge.

How durable are these labels? Will they fall off if they get wet?

I have been doing quite a bit of testing on these labels. After affixing a label to the keycard I have submerged it in a cup of hot water for over 15 minutes and the label did stay affixed to the badge. Now I am not saying you should go soaking your badges or taking showers with them but they should withstand the normal wear and tear of a convention, including getting damp during fursuiting.

Now any label will come off if you work at it. Just remember that without the label you will no longer have a valid badge.

What about pre-registered badges? Will they also use the labels?

No, pre-registered badges will not be using the labels. For pre-registered badges we will be printing directly on the badge as we have done in the past. However, we will most likely be re-arranging the layout of where we print the information on the badge to utilize the area at the bottom of the badge.

There are some other changes coming to registration but I want to limit this post to the badges. Keep an eye out for more information later.

Mink-Hometown Blues by Kjartan Arnorsson

Laura AKA Mink gets a letter about her sick father and flys back home…in a plane. There we find out her father is only sick because of his heavy drinking. We also find out that it seems in her family witches turn up every other generation. After a story of how their family survived a German invasion. Laura uses her magich to clue her father ills.

We learn in the Epilogue after all of this all she and her roommate wants is to get laid.

Gainful Employment by Reuter

Female employer talks to male employee about sexual hassisment. Not about what he did, just that his boss wants to get screwed. I really felt uncomfortable reading this as it makes like on a very senstive subject. Even more so when they have sex.

Net result after all of this is observed by a higher up they both get fired. After which she hires him as a personal asst.

Undercover by John DiGiorgio and Chris Tennaro

This entire comic can be reduced to the following words, information is passed from a woman to a customer at a strip show.

All I can really say is that the art is well done.

Genus 13 can be both view and downloaded here

First of all I fully admit I had no interest in this film back when it was first released back in 2003. I really wasn’t that huge of fan of the series back then. Frankly I didn’t even think about it for years, until I saw a UMD version of the movie (as pictured below) in a local retro game store. I collect UMDs I have about 40 for my PSP of various films, TV series and of course anime, so of course I bought it. But when I finally watched this film OMG!!! I feel so stupid, Cowboy Bebop the Movie is incredible.

The Blu ray version next to the UMD is mine I bought it after seeing the film on the tiny screen of my PSP.

Cowboy Bebop the Movie, which features the crew of the Bebop a group of cowboys in the future. In this time Cowboys are bounty hunters, who are after a bioterrorist. Whose blood contains Nanobots which can spread a lethal virus which will kill you in minutes. It’s a matter of life or death every second of this film. You will be literally on the edge of your seat from start of the film to finish. Wondering will anyone survive.

If you never seen Cowboy Bebop, the movie is an excellent introduction to the series. Which at every turns explores something you never knew about this world of theirs. You will be simply amazed. For it is a world of extremes, one you like to learn more of, like why was the Earth abandoned except for hackers and scavengers. Thankfully the series is available everywhere as so is the movie.

Really don’t take my word as the last thing you will hear on this film. Look at the trailer, check out what others may say. My guess is that you might want to at least check it out. If you do then you can thank me for letting you know of one amazing film.

Believe me when I say the trailer doesn’t give the film justice, and it’s a good trailer too.

Terry Times Three by Fred Perry

Confusion reigns in the lite comedy over a new roommate. The 2 females in this piece was expecting another female. But then this borderline lesbian couple, soon make it a 3 way with the new hunk of a male roommate.

Both entertaining and sexy

Rat and Ruin by Paul Kidd and Mitch Beiro

Literally one of the wildest, sexy and funny comics I ever read. It begins with a random meeting between this man and woman…but I assume are rats as the piece never really says. Then slowly it becomes clear that the male is a vampire and wants to make the female his loyal vampire bride. Thing really gets funny whenever he tries to bite her she pulls out a cross. The real twist at the end where she too turns out to be a vampire really surprised me. Like at the very end the male goes flying for his life.

Mink: Shell Game by Kjartan Arnorsson

This one had me confused and still does. It seems that this witch wants to sell her magic services to a multi millionaire but things don’t go well or do they. The deal turns out to be a bust, but she is excited over him, the millionaire swallowing something.

This ends in a cliffhanger, and I am still confused.

Click here to both view and download this issue

Mark my words this one will be a collectable, I already know of someone already offering $10 for one. Who knows how valuable they will become.

…To those like me who are fans of cartoons from the 1990s.